But Georgia U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey is frustrated with the slow expansion of the initiative to other areas of the state, telling the Georgia News Network other states, such as Hawaii, with far fewer illegal immigrants are seeing faster progress.
In addition to Hall, the screenings are already taking place in Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett, Muscogee and Whitfield counties.
Meanwhile, published reports say the fingerprint-sharing program aimed at deporting criminal illegal immigrants will cover all of metro Atlanta by the end of September.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that dozens of Georgia counties, including some its most populous, are scheduled to join the ``Secure Communities'' program by September.
Forsyth County is set to join on Dec. 14.
Jailers are already fingerprinting people booked into their jails, and the prints are checked against millions held in state and FBI databases. The checks help jailers confirm identities and search for criminal records and arrest warrants.
Under the Secure Communities program, the fingerprints are checked against more held by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, including those of people caught crossing the border illegally.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) estimates the program will be in all 159 Georgia counties by September 2013.
(The Associated Press and accessnorthga.com's Ken Stanford contributed to this story.)
http://accesswdun.com/article/2010/12/234240